[ID: A colored drawing of Cabby, Clover, and Test Tube from Inanimate Insanity. Test Tube has fangs added to her design. Cabby and Clover are at the focal point of the image, their backs facing the camera. Cabby is holding Clover next to her. Test Tube is sitting away from them, wrapping her arms around herself while seeming content. They are all sitting in a grassy area full of daisies and dandelions, staring off into the sunset. The drawing has warm colors. End ID.]
[ID: A colored drawing of Clover and Cabby from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby is proudly holding a golden Immunity Cookie up to her face, looking up at Clover who is laying on top of her head. Clover is happy and appearing to be saying something to her, though there are no speech bubbles in the image. There is a glowing background behind them. End ID.]
Little celebration of these two existing for five years now <3 I love them
[ID: A colored drawing of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. They are hugging each other as they lean into the other's face to kiss; both of their faces are obscured. There is a warm lighting in the coloring. Behind them is a gradient vaguely resembling the lesbian flag. End ID.]
[ID: A somewhat messily colored drawing of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design. Clover is sitting down in front of Cabby, who is playing with one of Clover's leaflets. The two are looking lovingly at each other, blushing.
The background is of Paradise Island, various palm trees, bushes, and leafy plants far in the back. The most notable plants are various flowers closer to the front, simple in style and colored like the lesbian flag. End ID.]
Cabby and Clover, a ship that I will be referring to this point onwards as Cablover (sounds like Cab Lover, which is fun!), is something rather important to me! The two have a lot of potential for a dynamic (could be platonic, too!) that gets often overlooked even by the show itself, and I’m hoping that this will help explain why this has invaded my brain for the past several months by this point. :)
Please note that this was all written before Season 4, and therefore cannot take any of it into account. If there’s something that either furthers or weakens this by then, I cannot know about it! Just keep that in mind if you were to come across this later on.
Dynamic
I think it’s best to start with their overall dynamic, or at least how I’d perceive it. Due to how little these two actually interact, this section in particular may end up having a lot of assumptions, so just keep that in mind.
To start with the basics, I think at its core, Cablover can be considered an “opposites attract” relationship. Clover is more carefree, Cabby is dedicated. Clover is lucky, Cabby has constant bad things happening to her. Clover is a plant and often connected to nature, Cabby is metallic and therefore can be considered “unnatural”. On its surface, there’s a lot of appeal for those who love relationships in which the characters end up rather different.
And yet… there’s still similarities, especially once you start digging! Both the two can be rather perceptive; in fact, Clover can identify her butterflies just by their differences in movement, and that requires a really good eye!
[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:
Brybee O...Oh... So... how can you tell your butterfly friends apart? They all look similar.
Clover: Oh, well, if you look closely: Cordelia tends to bob a little bit when she flies; Catalina is always precisely two to three inches above the others; Cassandra breathes a bit too loud; and Jake has less flaps a minute than the girls. But he makes up for it by being the lovable wittle scamp that he is. Don't you, Jake?
End ID.]
Both of them can be quite silly; Cabby very frequently cracks jokes about situations, often involving puns of all things.
[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Bot from Inanimate Insanity. The two are among several gears, Bot even holding one of them. Cabby closes her eyes and points upwards as the captions describe her dialogue as:
"Alright! Now how about we go ahead and- SIFT GEARS! [CHUCKLES]"
End ID.]
Both of them care a lot for others, both of them have different struggles with self-centering, and both of them have felt like they had done too much to hurt others, even sharing a similar coping mechanism of self-isolating.
Their few interactions also indicate a friendly relationship. Cabby states herself that she thinks Clover is a “sweet girl” even if she gets distracted easily and was the first to observe that she was missing from the meeting. It’s also notable to me that Cabby never saw Clover’s luck as a bad thing; rather than viewing it as something that inevitably led others to harm (an assumption made by Nickel that even generally thoughtful contestants like Candle did not disprove, merely instead stating that Clover did not intend this harm), she viewed it as a way to help others in challenges. Even if a large motivation was strategy, Cabby did still seem fond of Clover while including her in the egg drop challenge, even side-hugging her while pulling her close to explain her idea.
[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has her eyes closed with a finger pointing up, explaining something as she holds Clover close to her. End ID.]
Even shoving her off the cliff was more out of intent to show an example, accurately predicting that Clover would’ve been perfectly okay, and Clover found that fun! This is furthered by Clover directly telling Cabby that she had fun in the Season 3 finale episodes, even.
I think that’s a nice way to segue into more of Clover’s side of things. I think it’s easy to take Clover’s comment about “I would’ve done the same to you!” as some sort of lighthearted threat in response to something she didn’t enjoy, but like…
[ID: An image of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby is looking confidently towards Clover as Clover seems excited, having a big smile with her eyes closed and her arms raised. End ID.]
Look at her :) she was truly so happy to experience that, I can imagine it would’ve been like a fun ride to her! Even if Cabby was confused and maybe anxious at the suggestion, I think it’s very possible that Clover has an inkling that Cabby actually would enjoy such a thing. Cabby is durable, so there’s far less of a danger to her than there would be for many other objects, and she had a blast literally leaping off a cliff in the first challenge; maybe Clover couldn’t have seen how joyous she looked during the action, but she surely would’ve noticed Cabby had no reservations coming out of the tube. Clover herself noted that Cabby had not done anything particularly malicious, and I think this was merely a clumsy attempt to bond with and cheer up somebody who evidently seemed quite unsure of herself even just in her speech.
Building off Clover’s surprisingly good perception, there’s a subtle detail in the argument between Cabby and Test Tube, and how Clover mediates it. Under closer inspection, it’s clear that Test Tube is who turned that into specifically an argument by outright insulting Cabby, even if Cabby was rather irritated while voicing a concern. While Clover does seem to view both sides at fault for the argument, it’s very interesting to me that she, again, goes to first flip Test Tube’s “smile”. Cabby was not perfect in that argument, especially not with what happened after that, but keeping in mind that subtle acknowledgment of the true instigator combined with Clover later saying she hadn’t viewed Cabby as malicious? I think it’s pretty clear that Clover had a far more optimistic view of Cabby than most other contestants did, and saw her intent to do well even through things that could be so, so easy to misunderstand.
Even if that’s about where their interactions end, I think there’s still more to explore with how this dynamic could develop.
Both of them have struggled with their self esteem issues, and even if they largely figured out ways to cope and feel better, that isn’t to say they could never still struggle with those emotions, never feel reminders. How much both of them could connect over the fear of hurting others, assuring the other that they truly mean well, that they don’t seek to cause harm, that they are worth being around.
Focusing on more positives, I think Cabby could help ground Clover in some ways, help her truly bring out that analytical side of her. Clover I think excels most at emotional understanding, leaving logical deduction to be harder for her… at least going off the fact that she assumed Bot would’ve incriminated themself through a crossword puzzle, of all things. They could come up with puzzles as a fun game, perhaps!
Maybe Cabby could even help Clover focus a little more. Obviously it is impossible for anybody to solve everything– Clover’s easily-distracted nature seems to just be how her mind works– but I imagine Cabby could still find coping mechanisms for her that could help, and I imagine it just feels nice to have someone else there for support regardless.
Similarly, I think Clover could help Cabby loosen up a little, feel happier about things. I think Cabby has come a long way in her development, feeling overall better about herself and feeling less of a need to be competitive, but I could still imagine that could be something she’d struggle with over time– and having a little bundle of joy in Clover would be perfect for that. Truly, they could go back to the simple days of leaping off cliffs, kept safe by both Cabby’s durability and Clover’s luck.
Knowing how well Clover can understand others, I think it’d help Cabby a lot to have another perspective on that, too. I imagine that even if she truly tries a lot, it can still be hard to understand others well just because of how her mind works. Having somebody more patient talking through situations with her, helping her analyze things she may be unsure of I imagine could go a long way.
There’s simply a lot to think about! Dynamic-wise, I think this is about all I can extrapolate without getting into outright headcanon territory, at least more than I already have– but I think this is at least a good start. I have more up my sleeve, though!
Connections
There’s some other notable things connecting the two even beyond what I’ve already mentioned, and I wish every single day this was all capitalized on. I can only hope for future content…
Regardless! I think the first thing that’s notable to me is that Cabby had been studying Clover from day one, and we even SEE this in the first episode.
[ID: An image of Clover, Fan, Bot, Goo, Test Tube, and Cabby from Inanimate Insanity. Clover is looking towards the rest of her team, who are all covered in pink dye; while most of her teammates seem excited to have Clover on her team, Cabby instead seems much more focused on writing down something in a file. End ID.]
Like, yes, surely she found her abilities to be very interesting… but, like, she pulled Clover close to her. She called Clover “sweet”. No matter what context you view these interactions in, it’s clear she had a fondness towards Clover.
Cabby’s intense studying of Clover is what led to the wide realization of Clover’s luck, including by Clover herself. In a twist of irony, what Cabby considered to be beneficial for everyone is immediately considered to be a curse by Clover herself, jumpstarting Clover’s arc from being a lighthearted, albeit self-centered girl to somebody with a deep fear of hurting others, now left trying to figure out how to just do good even in the face of outright murder accusations.
…Sounds a little familiar, putting it that way.
Truly, what Clover needed to learn all along is that her luck is beneficial, at least most of the time– she just needed to share it with others around her! Almost what Cabby seemed to pick up on all along by wanting Clover’s luck to help her team.
And yet… Clover does more than that. She needs to constantly be helping, to be making up for this innate gift that she has, no matter how much hatred it’s caused her from some, no matter how she could feel about situations where it may have even hurt her.
I think that’s something Cabby could understand all too well.
The two have had to do so much to prove themselves far beyond the bare minimum, to make up for their very being, just for who they are. They can’t just be baseline acceptable, they can’t just be some person who exists, they need to actively be doing GOOD for everyone around them at all times. I’d argue both have very significant struggles with moral OCD, but I think that’s a conversation for another time. The important bit is… I think both of them would get it. They would get the idea of just their mere selves being what causes harm, just from being there as themselves.
It is evident that this is something the two have also internalized to their core, causing them both to self-isolate in various ways as a result. There are implications throughout I Am Chocolate! that Cabby had been isolating herself away from others, rejecting any means of connection until close to the end, and even episodes later she still says that being alone is “what she does best”. Clover had done similar after believing her luck to be a curse, avoiding others as much as she could in order to avoid potentially “hurting them”.
There’s even something to be said about the avoidance of things deeply meaningful to them. Cabby had stopped using her files for a while after believing them to be a harmful, reductive view of everyone else, and when Clover temporarily became luckless, she went on to talk about how Goo and Balloon being evenly matched is exactly why there shouldn’t be any luck. Neither of them viewed something so important to them as good or helpful, even worsened by how everyone else seemed to treat these things.
And as a side note… even their eliminations have parallels. Both unanimous, and yet so different. Cabby unanimously eliminated out of pure hatred, Clover unanimously eliminated out of pure concern. If Clover is full of luck all the time, then Cabby is devoid of it with how awfully her life had gone throughout the season.
If Cabby was the one to see Clover’s luck as good all along, then Clover was someone who saw Cabby as good all along, even if she didn’t get many chances to say so. Clover pointed out that Cabby wasn’t malicious, and I think she meant it. Even if ultimately Clover wasn’t among those who voted for Cabby, I can still imagine it would’ve meant so much to hear that from somebody, especially somebody less biased due to not quite being friends.
I think there’s a lot of parallels that could’ve been capitalized on between the two. So many things that feel connected, that could’ve led to more ties than what were there. Even if the show hasn’t currently capitalized on any of this, I definitely sure will.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts about these two, and if I’ve helped you understand the ship more, then that’s a win in my book :)
As a bonus, here’s Clover’s favorite moment during her time on Season 3!
[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:
Brybee: Woah! Exciting! I think that's our cue for the lightning round! Fast answers! Phew! I am nailing this! What was your favourite memory from your time on the show?
Clover: Oh, stargazing with Bow and Goo! Cabby and Test Tube told us all about the constellations and how we-
[ID: A messily colored sketch of Clover and Cabby from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and turquoise glasses to her design. They are both dressed up for Halloween.
Clover is dressed up in a teal jellyfish costume. She has a shiny translucent hat for the head, with several opaque tentacles lingering below. She also is dressed in teal clothing with several "wiggly" segments to represent the body. She is smiling and looking up at Cabby as she holds a purple paper bag with a spider icon on it.
Cabby is dressed up like an orange pumpkin basket. The lower half of her body is painted to resemble a jack-o-lantern; the face painted on looks happy. Her drawer handle is painted green with a dark blue string tied to it to represent a pumpkin basket handle. She has her eyes closed with an open smile; one of her arms is raised and the other is over her lower drawer.
They are strolling down a path in the forest. There are bare trees surrounding them. End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design. Clover is on top of Cabby, laying down on her stomach while kicking her feet. Clover says, "That was soooo sweet of you, Cabby!" with a heart next to the sentence. In response, Cabby appears proud, closing her eyes with a toothy grin as she confidently does the hands on hips pose. End ID.]
Cabby loves compliments a lot and sometimes wants them even when they aren't wholly necessary.
I think it'd be sweet if Clover gave them to her regardless :)
[ID: A somewhat messily colored sketch of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design. Both of them are mono-colored with only their main colors. The two are under a sideways lesbian flag-colored blanket and holding it up against them. Cabby's expression is shown looking happy, though only Clover's closed eyes are seen with most of her covered by the blanket; it can nonetheless be assumed she is also happy. They both have pride heart accessories on their heads; Cabby's is bi flag-colored, while Clover's is pan flag-colored. The background is pale blue. End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of a four-panel comic between Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design.
Panel 1: Cabby is reading off a file she is holding, a presumably long ramble represented by squiggles.
Panel 2: Cabby looks down at Clover and says, "So, Clover-".
Panel 3: The panel shifts to reveal Clover sitting down looking at a butterfly, not paying much attention, as Cabby asks offscreen, "Clover?".
Panel 4: Cabby finally exclaims "Clover!" and this gets Clover's attention, making her look up at Cabby and say "Whoops! Yes, Cabby?". End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of a four-panel comic between Cabby and Clover.
Panel 1: Cabby has lowered her file and is glancing away from Clover, who is sitting in front of her. Cabby says, "You keep getting distracted lately..." as the butterfly begins to fly offscreen.
Panel 2: Similar poses to Panel 1, though Cabby is looking down at Clover and reaching an arm out. Cabby asks, "Is everything okay?" as the butterfly is now offscreen.
Panel 3: Now cutting just to Clover again, she leans back as she does a nonchalant limp wrist and says, "Oh, I'm fine, Cabby!".
Panel 4: Clover leans forward, holding her hand on a leaflet as she begins, "It's just...". End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of a four-panel comic between Cabby and Clover.
Panel 1: The scene has now cut back to Cabby, seeming concerned as she looks down at Clover. Offscreen, Clover says, "Well, I can't think about just one thing for too long!".
Panel 2: The scene cuts to the butterfly from earlier. Offscreen, Clover says, "Sooo, I just find something else to look at!".
Panel 3: The scene returns to Clover, who seems more anxious than before, raising her arms. She continues, "It's not that I don't care!".
Panel 4: Clover begins fidgeting with her hands, seeming guilty, as she trails off saying, "It's just...". End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of a four-panel comic between Cabby and Clover.
Panel 1: Offscreen, Cabby says "Here." as Clover seems surprised.
Panel 2: The scene briefly cuts back to Cabby as she holds her drawer open, looking down at Clover with a sympathetic expression as she holds a marble & mesh toy. She says, "It's... a fidget toy.".
Panel 3: The scene returns to Clover as Cabby hands her the toy from offscreen, Clover happily reaching out for it while saying "Ooo!". Cabby says, "You can keep it! I have plenty. But... I hope it helps.".
Panel 4: Clover seems excited as she is already playing with the toy, saying, "Thanks, Cabby! This is soooo fun!". Offscreen, Cabby replies, "You are very welcome!". End ID.]
[ID: An uncolored sketch of Cabby and Clover. Concluding the previous comic pages, Clover is now sitting against Cabby, looking up at her as she continues to play with the fidget toy. Cabby is back to rambling as she reads off her file, holding an arm against Clover. Both are shown to be very happy. There is a small heart drawn next to the two. End ID.]
Still love these two a lot :) also wanted to explore themes of neurodivergency. I like to headcanon them both as having ADHD, especially Clover.
Something would eventually become of Cabby noticing how easily distracted Clover gets. It would be very kind if this ended with a way that could help a little :)
